The
History of England from the Accession of James IIBy Thomas Babington MacAulayChapter 2 Part 5

He now proclaimed that he had been only
too gracious when he had
condescended to ask the assent of the Scottish Estates to hiswishes. His prerogative would enable him
not only to protectthose whom he
favoured, but to punish those who had crossed him.He was confident that, in Scotland, his
dispensing power wouldnot be
questioned by any court of law. There was a Scottish Actof Supremacy which gave to the sovereign
such a control over theChurch as
might have satisfied Henry the Eighth. AccordinglyPapists were admitted in crowds to offices
and honours. TheBishop of Dunkeld,
who, as a Lord of Parliament, had opposed thegovernment, was arbitrarily ejected from
his see, and a successorwas
appointed. Queensberry was stripped of all his employments,and was ordered to remain at Edinburgh
till the accounts of theTreasury
during his administration had been examined andapproved. As the representatives of the
towns had been foundthe most
unmanageable part of the Parliament, it was determinedto make a revolution in every burgh
throughout the kingdom. Asimilar
change had recently been effected in England by judicialsentences: but in Scotland a simple
mandate of the prince wasthought
sufficient. All elections of magistrates and of towncouncils were prohibited; and the King
assumed to himself theright of
filling up the chief municipal offices. In a formalletter to the Privy Council he announced
his intention to fit upa Roman
Catholic chapel in his palace of Holyrood; and he gaveorders that the Judges should be directed
to treat all the lawsagainst
Papists as null, on pain of his high displeasure. Hehowever comforted the Protestant
Episcopalians by assuring them
that, though he was determined to protect the Roman CatholicChurch against them, he was equally
determined to protect themagainst
any encroachment on the part of the fanatics. To thiscommunication Perth proposed an answer
couched in the mostservile terms.
The Council now contained many Papists; theProtestant members who still had seats had
been cowed by theKing's obstinacy
and severity; and only a few faint murmurs wereheard. Hamilton threw out against the
dispensing power some hintswhich
he made haste to explain away. Lockhart said that he wouldlose his head rather than sign such a
letter as the Chancellorhad drawn,
but took care to say this in a whisper which was heardonly by friends. Perth's words were
adopted with inconsiderable
modifications; and the royal commands were obeyed; but a sullendiscontent spread through that minority of
the Scottish nation by the aid of which the government had hitherto
held the majoritydown.

When the historian of this troubled reign
turns to Ireland, histask becomes
peculiarly difficult and delicate. His steps,--toborrow the fine image used on a similar
occasion by a Romanpoet,--are on
the thin crust of ashes, beneath which the lava isstill glowing. The seventeenth century
has, in that unhappycountry, left
to the nineteenth a fatal heritage of malignantpassions. No amnesty for the mutual wrongs
inflicted by the Saxondefenders of
Londonderry, and by the Celtic defenders ofLimerick, has ever been granted from the
heart by either race. Tothis day a
more than Spartan haughtiness alloys the many noblequalities which characterize the children
of the victors, while aHelot
feeling, compounded of awe and hatred, is but too oftendiscernible in the children of the
vanquished. Neither of thehostile
castes can justly be absolved from blame; but the chiefblame is due to that shortsighted and
headstrong prince who,placed in a
situation in which he might have reconciled them,employed all his power to inflame their
animosity, and at lengthforced
them to close in a grapple for life and death.

The grievances under which the members of
his Church laboured inIreland
differed widely from those which he was attempting toremove in England and Scotland. The Irish
Statute Book,afterwards polluted
by intolerance as barbarous as that of thedark ages, then contained scarce a single
enactment, and not asingle
stringent enactment, imposing any penalty on Papists assuch. On our side of Saint George's
Channel every priest whoreceived a
neophyte into the bosom of the Church of Rome wasliable to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
On the other side heincurred no
such danger. A Jesuit who landed at Dover took hislife in his hand; but he walked the
streets of Dublin insecurity. Here
no man could hold office, or even earn hislivelihood as a barrister or a
schoolmaster, without previously
taking the oath of supremacy, but in Ireland a public functionarywas not held to be under thenecessity of taking that oath unless it
were formally tendered tohim. It
therefore did not exclude from employment any personwhom the government wished to promote. The
sacramental test andthe
declaration against transubstantiation were unknown nor waseither House of Parliament closed against
any religious sect.

It might seem, therefore, that the Irish
Roman Catholic was in asituation
which his English and Scottish brethren in the faith might well envy.
In fact, however, his condition was morepitiable and irritating than theirs. For,
though not persecutedas a Roman
Catholic, he was oppressed as an Irishman. In hiscountry the same line of demarcation which
separated religionsseparated
races; and he was of the conquered, the subjugated, thedegraded race. On the same soil dwelt two
populations, locallyintermixed,
morally and politically sundered. The difference ofreligion was by no means the only
difference, and was perhaps not
even the chief difference, which existed between them. Theysprang from different stocks. They spoke
different languages.They had
different national characters as strongly opposed as anytwo national characters in Europe. They
were in widely differentstages of
civilisation. Between two such populations there couldbe little sympathy; and centuries of
calamities and wrongs hadgenerated
a strong antipathy. The relation in which the minoritystood to the majority resembled the
relation in which thefollowers of
William the Conqueror stood to the Saxon churls, orthe relation in which the followers of
Cortes stood to theIndians of
Mexico.

The appellation of Irish was then given
exclusively to the Celtsand to
those families which, though not of Celtic origin, had inthe course of ages degenerated into Celtic
manners. These people,probably
somewhat under a million in number, had, with fewexceptions, adhered to the Church of Rome.
Among them residedabout two
hundred thousand colonists, proud of their Saxon bloodand of their Protestant faith.

The great preponderance of numbers on one
side was more thancompensated by a
great superiority of intelligence, vigour, andorganization on the other. The English
settlers seem to havebeen, in
knowledge, energy, and perseverance, rather above thanbelow the average level of the population
of the mother country.The
aboriginal peasantry, on the contrary, were in an almostsavage state. They never worked till they
felt the sting ofhunger. They were
content with accommodation inferior to thatwhich, in happier countries, was provided
for domestic cattle.Already the
potato, a root which can be cultivated with scarcelyany art, industry, or capital, and which
cannot be long stored,had become
the food of the common people. From a people so feddiligence and forethought were not to be
expected. Even within afew miles
of Dublin, the traveller, on a soil the richest andmost verdant in the world, saw with
disgust the miserable burrowsout
of which squalid and half naked barbarians stared wildly athim as he passed.

The aboriginal aristocracy retained in no
common measure thepride of birth,
but had lost the influence which is derived fromwealth and power. Their lands had been
divided by Cromwell amonghis
followers. A portion, indeed, of the vast territory which hehad confiscated had, after the restoration
of the House ofStuart, been given
back to the ancient proprietors. But much thegreater part was still held by English
emigrants under theguarantee of an
Act of Parliament. This act had been in force aquarter of a century; and under it
mortgages, settlements, sales,and
leases without number had been made. The old Irish gentrywere scattered over the whole world.
Descendants of Milesianchieftains
swarmed in all the courts and camps of the Continent.Those despoiled proprietors who still
remained in their nativeland,
brooded gloomily over their losses, pined for the opulenceand dignity of which they had been
deprived, and cherished wildhopes
of another revolution. A person of this class was describedby his countrymen as a gentleman who would
be rich if justicewere done, as a
gentleman who had a fine estate if he could onlyget it. He seldom betook himself to any
peaceful calling.Trade, indeed, he
thought a far more disgraceful resource thanmarauding. Sometimes he turned freebooter.
Sometimes hecontrived, in defiance
of the law, to live by coshering, that isto say, by quartering himself on the old
tenants of his family,who,
wretched as was their own condition, could not refuse aportion of their pittance to one whom they
still regarded astheir rightful
lord. The native gentleman who had been sofortunate as to keep or to regain some of
his land too oftenlived like the
petty prince of a savage tribe, and indemnifiedhimself for the humiliations which the
dominant race made himsuffer by
governing his vassals despotically, by keeping a rudeharam, and by maddening or stupefying
himself daily with strongdrink.
Politically he was insignificant. No statute, indeed,excluded him from the House of Commons:
but he had almost aslittle chance
of obtaining a seat there as a man of colour has ofbeing chosen a Senator of the United
States. In fact only onePapist had
been returned to the Irish Parliament since theRestoration. The whole legislative and
executive power was in thehands of
the colonists; and the ascendency of the ruling castewas upheld by a standing army of seven
thousand men, on whosezeal for
what was called the English interest full reliance couldbe placed.

On a close scrutiny it would have been
found that neither theIrishry nor
the Englishry formed a perfectly homogeneous body. The distinction
between those Irish who were of Celtic blood, andthose Irish who sprang from the followers
of Strong-bow and DeBurgh, was not
altogether effaced. The Fitzes sometimes permittedthemselves to speak with scorn of the Os
and Macs; and the Os andMacs
sometimes repaid that scorn with aversion. In the precedinggeneration one of the most powerful of the
O'Neills refused topay any mark of
respect to a Roman Catholic gentleman of oldNorman descent. "They say that the family
has been here fourhundred years.
No matter. I hate the clown as if he had comeyesterday." It seems, however, that such
feelings were rare,and that the
feud which had long raged between the aboriginalCelts and the degenerate English had
nearly given place to thefiercer
feud which separated both races from the modern andProtestant colony.

The colony had its own internal disputes,
both national andreligious. The
majority was English; but a large minority camefrom the south of Scotland. One half of
the settlers belonged tothe
Established Church; the other half were Dissenters. But inIreland Scot and Southron were strongly
bound together by theircommon
Saxon origin. Churchman and Presbyterian were stronglybound together by their common
Protestantism. All the colonists
had a common language and a common pecuniary interest. They weresurrounded by common enemies, and could be
safe only by means ofcommon
precautions and exertions. The few penal laws, therefore,which had been made in Ireland against
Protestant Nonconformists,were a
dead letter. The bigotry of the most sturdy churchmanwould not bear exportation across St.
George's Channel. As soonas the
Cavalier arrived in Ireland, and found that, without thehearty and courageous assistance of his
Puritan neighbours, heand all his
family would run imminent risk of being murdered byPopish marauders, his hatred of
Puritanism, in spite of himself,
began to languish and die away. It was remarked by eminent men ofboth parties that a Protestant who, in
Ireland, was called a highTory
would in England have been considered as a moderate Whig.

The Protestant Nonconformists, on their
side, endured, with morepatience
than could have been expected, the sight of the mostabsurd ecclesiastical establishment that
the world has ever seen.Four
Archbishops and eighteen Bishops were employed in lookingafter about a fifth part of the number of
churchmen who inhabitedthe single
diocese of London. Of the parochial clergy a largeproportion were pluralists and resided at
a distance from theircures. There
were some who drew from their benefices incomes oflittle less than a thousand a year,
without ever performing any spiritual function. Yet this monstrous
institution was much lessdisliked
by the Puritans settled in Ireland than the Church ofEngland by the English sectaries. For in
Ireland religiousdivisions were
subordinate to national divisions; and thePresbyterian, while, as a theologian, he
could not but condemnthe
established hierarchy, yet looked on that hierarchy with asort of complacency when he considered it
as a sumptuous andostentatious
trophy of the victory achieved by the great racefrom which he sprang.

Thus the grievances of the Irish Roman
Catholic had hardlyanything in
common with the grievances of the English RomanCatholic. The Roman Catholic of Lancashire
or Staffordshire hadonly to turn
Protestant; and he was at once, in all respects, ona level with his neighbours: but, if the
Roman Catholics ofMunster and
Connaught had turned Protestants, they would stillhave continued to be a subject people.
Whatever evils the RomanCatholic
suffered in England were the effects of harshlegislation, and might have been remedied
by a more liberallegislation. But
between the two populations which inhabitedIreland there was an inequality which
legislation had not causedand
could not remove. The dominion which one of those populationsexercised over the other was the dominion
of wealth over poverty,of
knowledge over ignorance, of civilised over uncivilised man.

James himself seemed, at the commencement
of his reign, to beperfectly aware
of these truths. The distractions of Ireland, hesaid, arose, not from the differences
between the Catholics andthe
Protestants, but from the differences between the Irish andthe English. The consequences which he
should have drawn fromthis just
proposition were sufficiently obvious; but unhappilyfor himself and for Ireland he failed to
perceive them.

If only national animosity could be
allayed, there could belittle
doubt that religious animosity, not being kept alive, asin England, by cruel penal acts and
stringent test acts, would of
itself fade away. To allay a national animosity such as thatwhich the two races inhabiting Ireland
felt for each other couldnot be
the work of a few years. Yet it was a work to which a wiseand good prince might have contributed
much; and James would have
undertaken that work with advantages such as none of hispredecessors or successors possessed. At
once an Englishman and aRoman
Catholic, he belonged half to the ruling and half to thesubject caste, and was therefore
peculiarly qualified to be a
mediator between them. Nor is it difficult to trace the course which
he ought to have pursued. He ought to have determined thatthe existing settlement of landed property
should be inviolable;and he ought
to have announced that determination in such amanner as effectually to quiet the anxiety
of the newproprietors, and to
extinguish any wild hopes which the oldproprietors might entertain. Whether, in
the great transfer ofestates,
injustice had or had not been committed, was immaterial.That transfer, just or unjust, had taken
place so long ago, thatto reverse
it would be to unfix the foundations of society. Theremust be a time of limitation to all
rights. After thirty-fiveyears of
actual possession, after twenty-five years of possessionsolemnly guaranteed by statute, after
innumerable leases andreleases,
mortgages and devises, it was too late to search forflaws in titles. Nevertheless something
might have been done toheal the
lacerated feelings and to raise the fallen fortunes ofthe Irish gentry. The colonists were in a
thriving condition.They had
greatly improved their property by building, planting,and fencing. The rents had almost doubled
within a few years;trade was
brisk; and the revenue, amounting to about threehundred thousand pounds a year, more than
defrayed all thecharges of the
local government, and afforded a surplus which wasremitted to England. There was no doubt
that the next Parliamentwhich
should meet at Dublin, though representing almostexclusively the English interest, would,
in return for the King'spromise to
maintain that interest in all its legal rights,willingly grant to him a very considerable
sum for the purpose of
indemnifying, at least in part, such native families as had beenwrongfully despoiled. It was thus that in
our own time the Frenchgovernment
put an end to the disputes engendered by the mostextensive confiscation that ever took
place in Europe. And thus,if James
had been guided by the advice of his most loyalProtestant counsellors, he would have at
least greatly mitigatedone of the
chief evils which afflicted Ireland.

Having done this, he should have laboured
to reconcile thehostile races to
each other by impartially protecting the rightsand restraining the excesses of both. He
should have punishedwith equal
severity the native who indulged in the license ofbarbarism, and the colonist who abused the
strength ofcivilisation. As far as
the legitimate authority of the crownextended,--and in Ireland it extended
far,--no man who wasqualified for
office by integrity and ability should have beenconsidered as disqualified by extraction
or by creed for anypublic trust.
It is probable that a Roman Catholic King, with anample revenue absolutely at his disposal,
would, without much difficulty, have secured the cooperation of the
Roman Catholicprelates and priests
in the great work of reconciliation. Much,however, must still have been left to the
healing influence oftime. The
native race would still have had to learn from thecolonists industry and forethought, the
arts of life, and thelanguage of
England. There could not be equality between men wholived in houses and men who lived in
sties, between men who werefed on
bread and men who were fed on potatoes, between men whospoke the noble tongue of great
philosophers and poets and menwho,
with a perverted pride, boasted that they could not writhetheir mouths into chattering such a jargon
as that in which theAdvancement of
Learning and the Paradise Lost were written.Yet it is not unreasonable to believe
that, if the gentle policywhich
has been described had been steadily followed by thegovernment, all distinctions would
gradually have been effaced,and
that there would now have been no more trace of the hostilitywhich has been the curse of Ireland than
there is of the equallydeadly
hostility which once raged between the Saxons and theNormans in England.

Unhappily James, instead of becoming a
mediator became thefiercest and
most reckless of partisans. Instead of allaying theanimosity of the two populations, he
inflamed it to a heightbefore
unknown. He determined to reverse their relative position,and to put the Protestant colonists under
the feet of the PopishCelts. To be
of the established religion, to be of the Englishblood, was, in his view, a
disqualification for civil and
military employment. He meditated the design of againconfiscating and again portioning out the
soil of half theisland, and showed
his inclination so clearly that one class wassoon agitated by terrors which he
afterwards vainly wished tosoothe,
and the other by hopes which he afterwards vainly wishedto restrain. But this was the smallest
part of his guilt andmadness. He
deliberately resolved, not merely to give to theaboriginal inhabitants of Ireland the
entire possession of theirown
country, but also to use them as his instruments for settingup arbitrary government in England. The
event was such as mighthave been
foreseen. The colonists turned to bay with the stubbornhardihood of their race. The mother
country justly regarded theircause
as her own. Then came a desperate struggle for a tremendousstake. Everything dear to nations was
wagered on both sides: norcan we
justly blame either the Irishman or the Englishman forobeying, in that extremity, the law of
self-preservation. Thecontest was
terrible, but short. The weaker went down. His fatewas cruel; and yet for the cruelty with
which he was treated there was, not indeed a defence, but an excuse:
for, though hesuffered all that
tyranny could inflict, he suffered nothing thathe would not himself have inflicted. The
effect of the insaneattempt to
subjugate England by means of Ireland was that theIrish became hewers of wood and drawers of
water to the English.The old
proprietors, by their effort to recover what they hadlost, lost the greater part of what they
had retained. Themomentary
ascendency of Popery produced such a series ofbarbarous laws against Popery as made the
statute book of Irelanda proverb
of infamy throughout Christendom. Such were the bitterfruits of the policy of James.

We have seen that one of his first acts,
after he became King,was to recall
Ormond from Ireland. Ormond was the head of theEnglish interest in that kingdom: he was
firmly attached to theProtestant
religion; and his power far exceeded that of anordinary Lord Lieutenant, first, because
he was in rank andwealth the
greatest of the colonists, and, secondly, because hewas not only the chief of the civil
administration, but alsocommander
of the forces. The King was not at that time disposedto commit the government wholly to Irish
hands. He had indeedbeen heard to
say that a native viceroy would soon become anindependent sovereign. For the present,
therefore, hedetermined to divide
the power which Ormond had possessed, toentrust the civil administration to an
English and ProtestantLord
Lieutenant, and to give the command of the army to an Irishand Roman Catholic General. The Lord
Lieutenant was Clarendon;the
General was Tyrconnel.

Tyrconnel sprang, as has already been
said, from one of thosedegenerate
families of the Pale which were popularly classed withthe aboriginal population of Ireland. He
sometimes, indeed, inhis rants,
talked with Norman haughtiness of the Celticbarbarians: but all his sympathies were
really with thenatives. The
Protestant colonists he hated; and they returned hishatred. Clarendon's inclinations were very
different: but he was,from temper,
interest, and principle, an obsequious courtier. Hisspirit was mean; his circumstances were
embarrassed; and his mindhad been
deeply imbued with the political doctrines which theChurch of England had in that age too
assiduously taught. Hisabilities,
however, were not contemptible; and, under a goodKing, he would probably have been a
respectable viceroy.

About three quarters of a year elapsed
between the recall ofOrmond and
the arrival of Clarendon at Dublin. During that interval the King was
represented by a board of Lords Justices:but the military administration was in
Tyrconnel's hands. Alreadythe
designs of the court began gradually to unfold themselves. Aroyal order came from Whitehall for
disarming the population.This
order Tyrconnel strictly executed as respected the English.Though the country was infested by
predatory bands, a Protestant
gentleman could scarcely obtain permission to keep a brace ofpistols. The native peasantry, on the
other hand, were sufferedto retain
their weapons. The joy of the colonists wastherefore great, when at length, in
December 1685, Tyrconnel was
summoned to London and Clarendon set out for Dublin. But it soonappeared that the government was really
directed, not at Dublin,but in
London. Every mail that crossed St. George's Channelbrought tidings of the boundless influence
which Tyrconnelexercised on Irish
affairs. It was said that he was to be aMarquess, that he was to be a Duke, that
he was to have thecommand of the
forces, that he was to be entrusted with the taskof remodelling the army and the courts of
justice. Clarendonwas bitterly
mortified at finding himself a subordinate inember of that administration of which he
had expected to be thehead. He
complained that whatever he did was misrepresented byhis detractors, and that the gravest
resolutions touching thecountry
which he governed were adopted at Westminster, made knownto the public, discussed at coffee houses,
communicated inhundreds of private
letters, some weeks before one hint had beengiven to the Lord Lieutenant. His own
personal dignity, he said,mattered
little: but it was no light thing that therepresentative of the majesty of the
throne should be made anobject of
contempt to the people. Panic spread fast among theEnglish when they found that the viceroy,
their fellow countrymanand fellow
Protestant, was unable to extend to them theprotection which they had expected from
him. They began to knowby bitter
experience what it is to be a subject caste. They wereharassed by the natives with accusations
of treason and sedition.This
Protestant had corresponded with Monmouth: that Protestanthad said something disrespectful of the
King four or five yearsago, when
the Exclusion Bill was under discussion; and theevidence of the most infamous of mankind
was ready tosubstantiate every
charge. The Lord Lieutenant expressed hisapprehension that, if these practices were
not stopped, therewould soon be at
Dublin a reign of terror similar to that whichhe had seen in London, when every man held
his life and honour atthe mercy of
Oates and Bedloe.

Clarendon was soon informed, by a concise
despatch from Sunderland, that it had been resolved to make without
delay acomplete change in both the
civil and the military government ofIreland, and to bring a large number of
Roman Catholics instantlyinto
office. His Majesty, it was most ungraciously added, hadtaken counsel on these matters with
persons more competent toadvise
him than his inexperienced Lord Lieutenant could possiblybe.

Before this letter reached the viceroy the
intelligence which itcontained
had, through many channels, arrived in Ireland. Theterror of the colonists was extreme.
Outnumbered as they were bythe
native population, their condition would be pitiable indeedif the native population were to be armed
against them with thewhole power
of the state; and nothing less than this wasthreatened. The English inhabitants of
Dublin passed each otherin the
streets with dejected looks. On the Exchange business wassuspended. Landowners hastened to sell
their estates for whatevercould be
got, and to remit the purchase money to England. Tradersbegan to call in their debts and to make
preparations forretiring from
business. The alarm soon affected the revenue.Clarendon attempted to inspire the
dismayed settlers with aconfidence
which he was himself far from feeling. He assured themthat their property would be held sacred,
and that, to hiscertain knowledge,
the King was fully determined to maintain theact of settlement which guaranteed their
right to the soil. Buthis letters
to England were in a very different strain. Heventured even to expostulate with the
King, and, without blamingHis
Majesty's intention of employing Roman Catholics, expressed astrong opinion that the Roman Catholics
who might be employedshould be
Englishmen.

The reply of James was dry and cold. He
declared that he had nointention
of depriving the English colonists of their land, butthat he regarded a large portion of them
as his enemies, andthat, since he
consented to leave so much property in the handsof his enemies, it was the more necessary
that the civil andmilitary
administration should be in the hands of his friends.

Accordingly several Roman Catholics were
sworn of the PrivyCouncil; and
orders were sent to corporations to admit RomanCatholics to municipal advantages. Many
officers of the armywere
arbitrarily deprived of their commissions and of theirbread. It was to no purpose that the Lord
Lieutenant pleaded thecause of
some whom he knew to be good soldiers and loyalsubjects. Among them were old Cavaliers,
who had fought bravely for monarchy, and who bore the marks of
honourable wounds. Theirplaces
were supplied by men who had no recommendation but theirreligion. Of the new Captains and
Lieutenants, it was said, somehad
been cow-herds, some footmen, some noted marauders; some hadbeen so used to wear brogues that they
stumbled and shuffledabout
strangely in their military jack boots. Not a few of theofficers who were discarded took refuge in
the Dutch service, andenjoyed,
four years later, the pleasure of driving theirsuccessors before them in ignominious rout
through the waters ofthe Boyne.

The distress and alarm of Clarendon were
increased by news whichreached him
through private channels. Without his approbation,without his knowledge, preparations were
making for arming anddrilling the
whole Celtic population of the country of which hewas the nominal governor. Tyrconnel from
London directed thedesign; and the
prelates of his Church were his agents. Everypriest had been instructed to prepare an
exact list of all hismale
parishioners capable of bearing arms, and to forward it tohis Bishop.

It had already been rumoured that
Tyrconnel would soon return to
Dublin armed with extraordinary and independent powers; and therumour gathered strength daily. The Lord
Lieutenant, whom noinsult could
drive to resign the pomp and emoluments of hisplace, declared that he should submit
cheerfully to the royalpleasure,
and approve himself in all things a faithful andobedient subject. He had never, he said,
in his life, had anydifference
with Tyrconnel, and he trusted that no differencewould now arise. Clarendon appears not to
have recollectedthat there had
once been a plot to ruin the fame of his innocentsister, and that in that plot Tyrconnel
had borne a chief part.This is not
exactly one of the injuries which high spirited menmost readily pardon. But, in the wicked
court where the Hydes hadlong been
pushing their fortunes, such injuries were easilyforgiven and forgotten, not from
magnanimity or Christiancharity,
but from mere baseness and want of moral sensibility. InJune 1686, Tyrconnel came. His commission
authorised him only tocommand the
troops, but he brought with him royal instructionstouching all parts ofthe administration, and at once took the
real government of theisland into
his own hands. On the day after his arrival heexplicitly said that commissions must be
largely given to RomanCatholic
officers, and that room must be made for them bydismissing more Protestants. He pushed on
the remodelling of the army eagerly and indefatigably. It was indeed
the only part ofthe functions of a
Commander in Chief which he was competent toperform; for, though courageous in brawls
and duels, he knewnothing of
military duty. At the very first review which he held,it was evident to all who were near to him
that he did not knowhow to draw up
a regiment. To turn Englishmen out and to putIrishmen in was, in his view, the
beginning and the end of the
administration of war. He had the insolence to cashier theCaptain of the Lord Lieutenant's own Body
Guard: nor wasClarendon aware of
what had happened till he saw a RomanCatholic, whose face was quite unknown to
him, escorting thestate coach. The
change was not confined to the officersalone. The ranks were completely broken up
and recomposed. Fouror five
hundred soldiers were turned out of a single regimentchiefly on the ground that they were below
the proper stature.Yet the most
unpractised eye at once perceived that they weretaller and better made men than their
successors, whose wild andsqualid
appearance disgusted the beholders. Orders were givento the new officers that no man of the
Protestant religion was tobe
suffered to enlist. The recruiting parties, instead of beatingtheir drums for volunteers at fairs and
markets, as had been theold
practice, repaired to places to which the Roman Catholicswere in the habit of making pilgrimages
for purposes of devotion.In a few
weeks the General had introduced more than two thousandnatives into the ranks; and the people
about him confidentlyaffirmed that
by Christmas day not a man of English race would beleft in the whole army.

On all questions which arose in the Privy
Council, Tyrconnelshowed similar
violence and partiality. John Keating, ChiefJustice of the Common Pleas, a man
distinguished by ability,
integrity, and loyalty, represented with great mildness thatperfect equality was all that the General
could reasonably askfor his own
Church. The King, he said, evidently meant that noman fit for public trust should be
excluded because he was aRoman
Catholic, and that no man unfit for public trust should beadmitted because he was a Protestant.
Tyrconnel immediately beganto
curse and swear. "I do not know what to say to that; I wouldhave all Catholics in." The most judicious
Irishmen of his ownreligious
persuasion were dismayed at his rashness, and venturedto remonstrate with him; but he drove them
from him withimprecations. His
brutality was such that many thought himmad. Yet it was less strange than the
shameless volubility withwhich he
uttered falsehoods. He had long before earned thenickname of Lying Dick Talbot; and, at
Whitehall, any wild fiction was commonly designated as one of Dick
Talbot's truths.He now daily
proved that he was well entitled to this unenviablereputation. Indeed in him mendacity was
almost a disease. Hewould, after
giving orders for the dismission of Englishofficers, take them into his closet,
assure them of hisconfidence and
friendship, and implore heaven to confound him, sink him,blast him, if he did not take good care of
their interests.Sometimes those to
whom he had thus perjured himself learned,before the day closed, that he had
cashiered them.

On his arrival, though he swore savagely
at the Act ofSettlement, and
called the English interest a foul thing, aroguish thing, and a damned thing, he yet
intended to beconvinced that the
distribution of property could not, after thelapse of so many years, be altered. But,
when he had been afew weeks at
Dublin, his language changed. He began to haranguevehemently at the Council board on the
necessity of giving backthe land
to the old owners. He had not, however, as yet, obtainedhis master's sanction to this fatal
project. National feelingstill
struggled feebly against superstition in the mind of James.He was an Englishman: he was an English
King; and he could not,without
some misgivings, consent to the destruction of thegreatest colony that England had ever
planted. The English Roman
Catholics with whom he was in the habit of taking counsel werealmost unanimous in favour of the Act of
Settlement. Not only thehonest and
moderate Powis, but the dissolute and headstrongDover, gave judicious and patriotic
advice. Tyrconnel couldhardly hope
to counteract at a distance the effect which suchadvice must produce on the royal mind. He
determined to plead thecause of
his caste in person; and accordingly he set out, at theend of August, for England.

His presence and his absence were equally
dreaded by the LordLieutenant. It
was, indeed, painful to be daily browbeaten by anenemy: but it was not less painful to know
that an enemy wasdaily breathing
calumny and evil counsel in the royal ear.Clarendon was overwhelmed by manifold
vexations. He made aprogress
through the country, and found that he was everywheretreated by the Irish population with
contempt. The Roman Catholic
priests exhorted their congregations to withhold from him allmarks of honour. The native gentry,
instead of coming to paytheir
respects to him, remained at their houses. The nativepeasantry everywhere sang Erse songs in
praise of Tyrconnel, whowould,
they doubted not, soon reappear to complete thehumiliation of their oppressors. The
viceroy had scarcely returned to Dublin, from his unsatisfactory tour,
when hereceived letters which
informed him that he had incurred theKing's serious displeasure. His
Majesty--so these letters ran--
expected his servants not only to do what he commanded, but to doit from the heart, and with a cheerful
countenance. The LordLieutenant
had not, indeed, refused to cooperate in the reform ofthe army and of the civil administration;
but his cooperation hadbeen
reluctant and perfunctory: his looks had betrayed hisfeelings; and everybody saw that he
disapproved of the policywhich he
was employed to carry into effect. In great anguishof mind he wrote to defend himself; but he
was sternly told thathis defence
was not satisfactory. He then, in the most abjectterms, declared that he would not attempt
to justify himself,that he
acquiesced in the royal judgment, be it what it might,that he prostrated himself in the dust,
that he implored pardon,that of
all penitents he was the most sincere, that he shouldthink it glorious to die in his
Sovereign's cause, but found it
impossible to live under his Sovereign's displeasure. Nor wasthis mere interested hypocrisy, but, at
least in part, unaffected
slavishness and poverty of spirit; for in confidential letters,not meant for the royal eye, he bemoaned
himself to his family inthe same
strain. He was miserable; he was crushed; the wrath ofthe King was insupportable; if that wrath
could not be mitigated,life would
not be worth having. The poor man's terrorincreased when he learned that it had been
determined atWhitehall to recall
him, and to appoint, as his successor, hisrival and calumniator, Tyrconnel. Then for
a time the prospectseemed to
clear; the King was in better humour; and during a fewdays Clarendon flattered himself that his
brother's intercessionhad
prevailed, and that the crisis was passed.

In truth the crisis was only beginning.
While Clarendon wastrying to lean
on Rochester, Rochester was unable longer tosupport himself. As in Ireland the elder
brother, thoughretaining the guard
of honour, the sword of state, and the titleof Excellency, had really been superseded
by the Commander of theForces, so
in England, the younger brother, though holding thewhite staff, and walking, by virtue of his
high office, beforethe greatest
hereditary nobles, was fast sinking into a merefinancial clerk. The Parliament was again
prorogued to a distantday, in
opposition to the Treasurer's known wishes. He was noteven told that there was to be another
prorogation, but was leftto learn
the news from the Gazette. The real direction of affairshad passed to the cabal which dined with
Sunderland on Fridays.The cabinet
met only to hear the despatches from foreign courts read: nor did
those despatches contain anything which was notknown on the Royal Exchange; for all the
English Envoys hadreceived orders
to put into the official letters only the commontalk of antechambers, and to reserve
important secrets forprivate
communications which were addressed to James himself, toSunderland, or to Petre. Yet the
victorious faction was notcontent.
The King was assured by those whom he most trusted thatthe obstinacy with which the nation
opposed his designs wasreally to
be imputed to Rochester. How could the people believethat their Sovereign was unalterably
resolved to persevere in thecourse
on which he had entered, when they saw at his right hand,ostensibly first in power and trust among
his counsellors, a manwho
notoriously regarded that course with strong disapprobation?Every step which had been taken with the
object of humbling theChurch of
England, and of elevating the Church of Rome, had beenopposed by the Treasurer. True it was
that, when he had foundopposition
vain, he had gloomily submitted, nay, that he hadsometimes even assisted in carrying into
effect the very plansagainst which
he had most earnestly contended. True it was that,though he disliked the Ecclesiastical
Commission, he hadconsented to be
a Commissioner. True it was that he had, whiledeclaring that he could see nothing
blamable in the conduct ofthe
Bishop of London, voted sullenly and reluctantly for thesentence of deprivation. But this was not
enough. A prince,engaged in an
enterprise so important and arduous as that onwhich James was bent, had a right to
expect from his firstminister, not
unwilling and ungracious acquiescence, but zealousand strenuous cooperation. While such
advice was daily given toJames by
those in whom he reposed confidence, he received, by thepenny post, many anonymous letters filled
with calumnies againstthe Lord
Treasurer. This mode of attack had been contrived byTyrconnel, and was in perfect harmony with
every part of hisinfamous life.

The King hesitated. He seems, indeed, to
have really regarded hisbrother in
law with personal kindness, the effect of nearaffinity, of long and familiar
intercourse, and of many mutual
good offices. It seemed probable that, as long as Rochestercontinued to submit himself, though
tardily and with murmurs, tothe
royal pleasure, he would continue to be in name primeminister. Sunderland, therefore, with
exquisite cunning,suggested to his
master the propriety of asking the only proof ofobedience which it was quite certain that
Rochester never wouldgive. At
present,--such was the language of the artfulSecretary,--it was impossible to consult
with the first of the King's servants respecting the object nearest to
the King'sheart. It was lamentable
to think that religious prejudices
should, at such a conjuncture, deprive the government of suchvaluable assistance. Perhaps those
prejudices might not prove
insurmountable. Then the deceiver whispered that, to hisknowledge, Rochester had of late had some
misgivings about thepoints in
dispute between the Protestants and Catholics. Thiswas enough. The King eagerly caught at the
hint. He began toflatter himself
that he might at once escape from thedisagreeable necessity of removing a
friend, and secure an able
coadjutor for the great work which was in progress. He was alsoelated by the hope that he might have the
merit and the glory ofsaving a
fellow creature from perdition. He seems, indeed, aboutthis time, to have been seized with an
unusually violent fit ofzeal for
his religion; and this is the more remarkable, becausehe had just relapsed, after a short
interval of selfrestraint,into
debauchery which all Christian divines condemn as sinful,and which, in an elderly man married to an
agreeable young wife,is regarded
even by people of the world as disreputable. LadyDorchester had returned from Dublin, and
was again the King'smistress. Her
return was politically of no importance. She hadlearned by experience the folly of
attempting to save her loverfrom
the destruction to which he was running headlong. Shetherefore suffered the Jesuits to guide
his political conduct andthey, in
return, suffered her to wheedle him out of money; Shewas, however, only one of several
abandoned women who at thistime
shared, with his beloved Church, the dominion over hismind.194 He seems to have determined to
make some amends forneglecting the
welfare of his own soul by taking care of thesouls of others. He set himself,
therefore, to labour, with real
good will, but with the good will of a coarse, stern, andarbitrary mind, for the conversion of his
kinsman. Every audiencewhich the
Treasurer obtained was spent in arguments about theauthority of the Church and the worship of
images. Rochester wasfirmly
resolved not to abjure his religion; but he had no scrupleabout employing in selfdefence artifices
as discreditable asthose which had
been used against him. He affected to speak likea man whose mind was not made up,
professed himself desirous tobe
enlightened if he was in error, borrowed Popish books, andlistened with civility to Popish divines.
He had severalinterviews with
Leyburn, the Vicar Apostolic, with Godden, thechaplain and almoner of the Queen Dowager,
and with BonaventureGiffard, a
theologian trained to polemics in the schools ofDouay. It was agreed that there should be
a formal disputationbetween these
doctors and some Protestant clergymen. The King told Rochester to
choose any ministers of the Established Church,with two exceptions. The proscribed
persons were Tillotson and
Stillingfleet. Tillotson, the most popular preacher of that age,and in manners the most inoffensive of
men, had been muchconnected with
some leading Whigs; and Stillingfleet, who wasrenowned as a consummate master of all the
weapons ofcontroversy, had given
still deeper offence by publishing ananswer to the papers which had been found
in the strong box ofCharles the
Second. Rochester took the two royal chaplains whohappened to be in waiting. One of them was
Simon Patrick, whosecommentaries
on the Bible still form a part of theologicallibraries; the other was Jane, a vehement
Tory, who had assistedin drawing
up that decree by which the University of Oxford hadsolemnly adopted the worst follies of
Filmer. The conference tookplace
at Whitehall on the thirtieth of November. Rochester, whodid not wish it to be known that he had
even consented to hearthe
arguments of Popish priests, stipulated for secrecy. Noauditor was suffered to be present except
the King. The subjectdiscussed was
the real presence. The Roman Catholic divines tookon themselves the burden of the proof.
Patrick and Jane saidlittle; nor
was it necessary that they should say much; for theEarl himself undertook to defend the
doctrine of his Church, and,as was
his habit, soon warmed with conflict, lost his temper, andasked with great vehemence whether it was
expected that he shouldchange his
religion on such frivolous grounds. Then he rememberedhow much he was risking, began again to
dissemble, complimentedthe
disputants on their skill and learning, and asked time toconsider what had been said.

Slow as James was, he could not but see
that this was meretrifling. He
told Barillon that Rochester's language was not thatof a man honestly desirous of arriving at
the truth. Still theKing did not
like to propose directly to his brother in law thesimple choice, apostasy or dismissal: but,
three days after theconference,
Barillon waited on the Treasurer, and, with muchcircumlocution and many expressions of
friendly concern, brokethe
unpleasant truth. "Do you mean," said Rochester, bewilderedby the involved and ceremonious phrases in
which the intimationwas made,
"that, if I do not turn Catholic, the consequence willbe that I shall lose my place?" "I say
nothing aboutconsequences,"
answered the wary diplomatist. "I only come as afriend to express a hope that you will
take care to keep yourplace." "But
surely," said Rochester, "the plain meaning of allthis is that I must turn Catholic or go
out." He put manyquestions for the
purpose of ascertaining whether the communication was made by
authority, but could extort only vagueand mysterious replies. At last, affecting
a confidence which hewas far from
feeling, he declared that Barillon must have beenimposed upon by idle or malicious reports.
"I tell you," he said,"that the
King will not dismiss me, and I will not resign. I knowhim: he knows me; and I fear nobody." The
Frenchman answered thathe was
charmed, that he was ravished to hear it, and that hisonly motive for interfering was a sincere
anxiety for theprosperity and
dignity of his excellent friend the Treasurer. Andthus the two statesmen parted, each
flattering himself that hehad
duped the other.

Meanwhile, in spite of all injunctions of
secrecy, the news thatthe Lord
Treasurer had consented to be instructed in thedoctrines of Popery had spread fast
through London. Patrick andJane
had been seen going in at that mysterious door which led toChiffinch's apartments. Some Roman
Catholics about the court had,
indiscreetly or artfully, told all, and more than all, that theyknew. The Tory churchmen waited anxiously
for fuller information.They were
mortified to think that their leader should even havepretended to waver in his opinion; but
they could not believethat he
would stoop to be a renegade. The unfortunate minister,tortured at once by his fierce passions
and his low desires,annoyed by the
censures of the public, annoyed by the hints whichhe had received from Barillon, afraid of
losing character, afraidof losing
office, repaired to the royal closet. He was determinedto keep his place, if it could be kept by
any villany but one. Hewould
pretend to be shaken in his religious opinions, and to behalf a convert: he would promise to give
strenuous support tothat policy
which he had hitherto opposed: but, if he were drivento extremity, he would refuse to change
his religion. He began,therefore,
by telling the King that the business in which HisMajesty took so much interest was not
sleeping, that Jane andGiffard
were engaged in consulting books on the points in disputebetween the Churches, and that, when these
researches were over,it would be
desirable to have another conference. Then hecomplained bitterly that all the town was
apprised of what oughtto have been
carefully concealed, and that some persons, who,from their station, might be supposed to
be well informed,reported strange
things as to the royal intentions. "It iswhispered," he said, "that, if I do not do
as your Majesty wouldhave me, I
shall not be suffered to continue in my presentstation." The King said, with some general
expressions ofkindness, that it
was difficult to prevent people from talking,and that loose reports were not to be
regarded. These vague phrases were not likely to quiet the perturbed
mind of theminister. His agitation
became violent, and he began to plead forhis place as if he had been pleading for
his life. "Your Majestysees that I
do all in my power to obey you. Indeed I will do allthat I can to obey you in every thing. I
will serve you in yourown way.
Nay," he cried, in an agony of baseness, "I will do whatI can to believe as you would have me. But
do not let me be told,while I am
trying to bring my mind to this, that, if I find itimpossible to comply, I must lose all. For
I must needs tell yourMajesty that
there are other considerations." "Oh, you mustneeds," exclaimed the King, with an oath.
For a single word ofhonest and
manly sound, escaping in the midst of all this abjectsupplication, was sufficient to move his
anger. "I hope, sir,"said poor
Rochester, "that I do not offend you. Surely yourMajesty could not think well of me if I
did not say so." The King
recollected himself protested that he was not offended, andadvised the Treasurer to disregard idle
rumours, and to conferagain with
Jane and Giffard.

After this conversation, a fortnight
elapsed before the decisiveblow
fell. That fortnight Rochester passed in intriguing andimploring. He attempted to interest in his
favour those RomanCatholics who
had the greatest influence at court. He could not,he said, renounce his own religion: but,
with that singlereservation, he
would do all that they could desire. Indeed, ifhe might only keep his place, they should
find that he could bemore useful
to them as a Protestant than as one of their owncommunion. His wife, who was on a sick
bed, had already, itwas said,
solicited the honour of a visit from the much injuredQueen, and had attempted to work on Her
Majesty's feelings ofcompassion.
But the Hydes abased themselves in vain. Petreregarded them with peculiar malevolence,
and was bent on theirruin. On the
evening of the seventeenth of December the Earlwas called into the royal closet. James
was unusuallydiscomposed, and even
shed tears. The occasion, indeed, could notbut call up some recollections which might
well soften even ahard heart. He
expressed his regret that his duty made itimpossible for him to indulge his private
partialities. It wasabsolutely
necessary, he said, that those who had the chiefdirection of his affairs should partake
his opinions andfeelings. He owned
that he had very great personal obligations toRochester, and that no fault could be
found with the way in whichthe
financial business had lately been done: but the office ofLord Treasurer was of such high importance
that, in general, itought not to
be entrusted to a single person, and could not safely be entrusted by
a Roman Catholic King to a person zealousfor the Church of England. "Think better
of it, my Lord," hecontinued.
"Read again the papers from my brother's box. I willgive you a little more time for
consideration, if you desire it."
Rochester saw that all was over, and that the wisest course leftto him was to make his retreat with as
much money and as muchcredit as
possible. He succeeded in both objects. He obtained apension of four thousand pounds a year for
two lives on the postoffice. He
had made great sums out of the estates of traitors,and carried with him in particular Grey's
bond for forty thousandpounds, and
a grant of all the estate which the crown had inGrey's extensive property.201 No person
had ever quitted officeon terms so
advantageous. To the applause of the sincere friendsof the Established Church Rochester had,
indeed, very slenderclaims. To
save his place he had sate in that tribunal which hadbeen illegally created for the purpose of
persecuting her. Tosave his place
he had given a dishonest vote for degrading one ofher most eminent ministers, had affected
to doubt her orthodoxy,had
listened with the outward show of docility to teachers whocalled her schismatical and heretical, and
had offered tocooperate
strenuously with her deadliest enemies in their designsagainst her. The highest praise to which
he was entitled wasthis, that he
had shrunk from the exceeding wickedness andbaseness of publicly abjuring, for lucre,
the religion in whichhe had been
brought up, which he believed to be true, and ofwhich he had long made an ostentatious
profession. Yet he wasextolled by
the great body of Churchmen as if he had been thebravest and purest of martyrs. The Old and
New Testaments, theMartyrologies
of Eusebius and of Fox, were ransacked to findparallels for his heroic piety. He was
Daniel in the den oflions,
Shadrach in the fiery furnace, Peter in the dungeon ofHerod, Paul at the bar of Nero, Ignatius
in the amphitheatre,Latimer at the
stake. Among the many facts which prove that thestandard of honour and virtue among the
public men of that agewas low, the
admiration excited by Rochester's constancy is,perhaps, the most decisive.

In his fall he dragged down Clarendon. On
the seventh of January1687, the
Gazette announced to the people of London that theTreasury was put into commission. On the
eighth arrived at Dublina despatch
formally signifying that in a month Tyrconnel wouldassume the government of Ireland. It was
not without greatdifficulty that
this man had surmounted the numerous impedimentswhich stood in the way of his ambition. It
was well known thatthe
extermination of the English colony in Ireland was the object on which
his heart was set. He had, therefore, to overcome somescruples in the royal mind. He had to
surmount the opposition,not merely
of all the Protestant members of the government, notmerely of the moderate and respectable
heads of the RomanCatholic body,
but even of several members of the jesuiticalcabal. Sunderland shrank from the thought
of an Irishrevolution, religious,
political, and social. To the Queen
Tyrconnel was personally an object of aversion. Powis wastherefore suggested as the man best
qualified for theviceroyalty. He
was of illustrious birth: he was a sincere RomanCatholic: and yet he was generally allowed
by candid Protestantsto be an
honest man and a good Englishman. All opposition,however, yielded to Tyrconnel's energy and
cunning. He fawned,bullied, and
bribed indefatigably. Petre's help was secured byflattery. Sunderland was plied at once
with promises and menaces.An
immense price was offered for his support, no less than anannuity of five thousand pounds a year
from Ireland, redeemableby payment
of fifty thousand pounds down. If this proposal wererejected, Tyrconnel threatened to let the
King know that the LordPresident
had, at the Friday dinners, described His Majesty as afool who must be governed either by a
woman or by a priest.Sunderland,
pale and trembling, offered to procure for Tyrconnelsupreme military command, enormous
appointments, anything but the
viceroyalty: but all compromise was rejected; and it wasnecessary to yield. Mary of Modena herself
was not free fromsuspicion of
corruption. There was in London a renowned chain ofpearls which was valued at ten thousand
pounds. It had belongedto Prince
Rupert; and by him it had been left to Margaret Hughes,a courtesan who, towards the close of his
life, had exercised aboundless
empire over him. Tyrconnel loudly boasted that withthis chain he had purchased the support of
the Queen. There werethose,
however, who suspected that this story was one of DickTalbot's truths, and that it had no more
foundation than thecalumnies
which, twenty-six years before, he had invented toblacken the fame of Anne Hyde. To the
Roman Catholic courtiersgenerally
he spoke of the uncertain tenure by which they heldoffices, honours, and emoluments. The King
might die tomorrow,and might leave
them at the mercy of a hostile government and ahostile rabble. But, if the old faith
could be made dominant inIreland,
if the Protestant interest in that country could bedestroyed, there would still be, in the
worst event, an asylum athand to
which they might retreat, and where they might eithernegotiate or defend themselves with
advantage. A Popish priestwas
hired with the promise of the mitre of Waterford to preach atSaint James's against the Act of
Settlement; and his sermon, though heard with deep disgust by the
English part of theauditory, was
not without its effect. The struggle whichpatriotism had for a time maintained
against bigotry in the royalmind
was at an end. "There is work to be done in Ireland," saidJames, "which no Englishman will do."

All obstacles were at length removed; and
in February 1687,Tyrconnel began
to rule his native country with the power andappointments of Lord Lieutenant, but with
the humbler title ofLord Deputy.

His arrival spread dismay through the
whole English population.Clarendon
was accompanied, or speedily followed, across St.George's Channel, by a large proportion of
the most respectableinhabitants of
Dublin, gentlemen, tradesmen, and artificers. Itwas said that fifteen hundred families
emigrated in a few days.The panic
was not unreasonable. The work of putting the colonistsdown under the feet of the natives went
rapidly on. In a shorttime almost
every Privy Councillor, Judge, Sheriff, Mayor,Alderman, and Justice of the Peace was a
Celt and a RomanCatholic. It
seemed that things would soon be ripe for a generalelection, and that a House of Commons bent
on abrogating the Actof Settlement
would easily be assembled. Those who had latelybeen the lords of the island now cried
out, in the bitterness oftheir
souls, that they had become a prey and a laughingstock totheir own serfs and menials; that houses
were burnt and cattlestolen with
impunity; that the new soldiers roamed the country,pillaging, insulting, ravishing, maiming,
tossing one Protestantin a
blanket, tying up another by the hair and scourging him;that to appeal to the law was vain; that
Irish Judges, Sheriffs,juries, and
witnesses were all in a league to save Irishcriminals; and that, even without an Act
of Parliament, the wholesoil would
soon change hands; for that, in every action ofejectment tried under the administration
of Tyrconnel, judgmenthad been
given for the native against the Englishman.

While Clarendon was at Dublin the Privy
Seal had been in thehands of
Commissioners. His friends hoped that it would, on hisreturn to London, be again delivered to
him. But the King and the
Jesuitical cabal had determined that the disgrace of the Hydesshould be complete. Lord Arundell of
Wardour, a Roman Catholic,received
the Privy Seal. Bellasyse, a Roman Catholic, was madeFirst Lord of the Treasury; and Dover,
another Roman Catholic,had a seat
at the board. The appointment of a ruined gambler tosuch a trust would alone have sufficed to
disgust the public.

The dissolute Etherege, who then resided
at Ratisbon as Englishenvoy, could not refrain from expressing,
with a sneer, his hopethat his old boon companion, Dover, would
keep the King's moneybetter than his own. In order that the
finances might not beruined by incapable and inexperienced
Papists, the obsequious,diligent and silent Godolphin was named a
Commissioner of theTreasury, but continued to be Chamberlain to
the Queen.

The
dismission of the two brothers is a great epoch in the reignof James. From that time it was clear that
what he really wantedwas not liberty of conscience for the
members of his own church,but liberty to persecute the members of
other churches.Pretending to abhor tests, he had himself
imposed a test. Hethought it hard, he thought it monstrous,
that able and loyal menshould be excluded from the public service
solely for being RomanCatholics. Yet he had himself turned out of
office a Treasurer,whom he admitted to be both loyal and able,
solely for being aProtestant. The cry was that a general
proscription was at hand,and that every public functionary must make
up his mind to losehis soul or to lose his place. Who indeed
could hope to standwhere the Hydes had fallen? They were the
brothers in law of theKing, the uncles and natural guardians of
his children, hisfriends from early youth, his steady
adherents in adversity andperil, his obsequious servants since he had
been on the throne.Their sole crime was their religion; and for
this crime they hadbeen discarded. In great perturbation men
began to look round forhelp; and soon all eyes were fixed on one
whom a rare concurrenceboth of personal qualities and of fortuitous
circumstancespointed out as the deliverer.

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